Posted on Feb 18, 2023
Glimmers of hope for children who scavenge coal from India's mines
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/18/ [login to see] /glimmers-of-hope-for-children-who-scavenge-coal-from-indias-mines
Before sunset, in the 110-square-mile mining region of Jharia in eastern India, an ensemble of girls dances near an opencast coal mine. Come sunrise, they'll be back at the mines for another reason: survival.
"We're afraid, but we're bound to go with the risks," says 16-year-old Anjali, who scavenges from her local mine — typically between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. — for a few dollars worth of coal. (NPR is only using the girls' first names due to this kind of coal collecting being against the law.) An estimated 250 people in her rural village, including 65 children, fill their baskets at the pits, then sell the rocks in local markets or keep them for free household fuel.
Poverty abounds across the coal-rich state of Jharkhand, home to Jharia and some of India's largest coal reserves. The people of Jharkhand rely on the coal industry for jobs, pensions, electricity, fuel and more, with at least a few million of the state's 40 million residents believed to be informal or illegal coal workers. Jharia is essentially one large coalfield dotted with vulnerable villages. There, Anjali and other poor residents participate in the mining economy to meet their basic needs.
Before sunset, in the 110-square-mile mining region of Jharia in eastern India, an ensemble of girls dances near an opencast coal mine. Come sunrise, they'll be back at the mines for another reason: survival.
"We're afraid, but we're bound to go with the risks," says 16-year-old Anjali, who scavenges from her local mine — typically between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. — for a few dollars worth of coal. (NPR is only using the girls' first names due to this kind of coal collecting being against the law.) An estimated 250 people in her rural village, including 65 children, fill their baskets at the pits, then sell the rocks in local markets or keep them for free household fuel.
Poverty abounds across the coal-rich state of Jharkhand, home to Jharia and some of India's largest coal reserves. The people of Jharkhand rely on the coal industry for jobs, pensions, electricity, fuel and more, with at least a few million of the state's 40 million residents believed to be informal or illegal coal workers. Jharia is essentially one large coalfield dotted with vulnerable villages. There, Anjali and other poor residents participate in the mining economy to meet their basic needs.
Glimmers of hope for children who scavenge coal from India's mines
Posted from npr.org
India
Mining and Metals
Photography
Poverty
Children
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."In 2016, in Ghansadih, Savitri, then 16, spoke of the face and neck burns she sustained at 13 after her clothing caught fire when she lit her household's coal oven. Two years later, the teenager and her younger siblings were welcomed into Roy's Coalfield Children Classes community. Now Savitri is studying to be a nurse with her savings, a scholarship from the Coalfield Children Classes and private donations. "I'm still working in the coalfields because I don't have another option," the young woman with ailing parents explains. "If I get a nursing job, I'll be able to protect my family in a better way."
..."In 2016, in Ghansadih, Savitri, then 16, spoke of the face and neck burns she sustained at 13 after her clothing caught fire when she lit her household's coal oven. Two years later, the teenager and her younger siblings were welcomed into Roy's Coalfield Children Classes community. Now Savitri is studying to be a nurse with her savings, a scholarship from the Coalfield Children Classes and private donations. "I'm still working in the coalfields because I don't have another option," the young woman with ailing parents explains. "If I get a nursing job, I'll be able to protect my family in a better way."
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